Lack of association of tumor necrosis factor alpha gene polymorphism in patients with rheumatoid arthritis in central Taiwan

The aim of this study was to investigate the association of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) gene promoter polymorphisms in Chinese patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in central Taiwan. A total of 106 RA patients and 253 normal controls were studied. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based restriction analysis was used to identify A/G polymorphism at position 308 in the promoter region of the TNFα, which is located at 6q21.3. For the genotype of TNFα-308 polymorphism, there was no statistically significant difference between RA patients and normal controls (Fisher's exact test, P=0.82). Additionally, no statistical association in the distribution of TNFα-308 polymorphism between rheumatoid factor (RF)-positive and -negative patients was noted. The lack of an association of TNFα-308 polymorphism with RA and RF in our study implies that TNFα-308 polymorphism cannot serve as a candidate gene marker for screening RA patients in Taiwan.